


Overcome

by proterozoic



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Blackmail, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Sexting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-07-29 19:21:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7696285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/proterozoic/pseuds/proterozoic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jo flirts with guys online until one threatens to post her nudes and she seeks help from an older family friend that she happens to have a crush on. Non-Supernatural AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I knew I’d taken it too far when that guy told me he’d post my pictures if I didn’t do as he said. He’d sworn he wouldn’t. At the time I’d figured that it wouldn’t be bad to trust someone once in a while so I sent them even though it was the first time I’d sent pictures and not just chatted. Although for him it was a bad idea to post child porn on the internet, especially being older than me, I still could almost hear my own heart pounding. I tried to take deep breaths but they were all shallow. Maybe the pictures would be taken down two minutes after he’d posted them, but if someone who knew me got to see them or hear of them, at some point everyone at school would know. They’d start saying I’m a slut, all the guys I liked would look at me differently. For everyone I’d be a different person after that.

And Dean. I wasn’t sure what he would have thought, not having seen him for more than a few hours a couple of days. His shameless smile and the way he didn’t doubt a word he said, among other things, told me he was the womanizer type. He didn’t act too much like one with me. This was the only moment in which I felt it as a relief. He was an adult. A sexy one of course, playful, but he was mature, at least enough for me. Enough for me to call him.

Maybe in a slightly different situation I would’ve hesitated and first planned my exact words, but I was on my bed, curled into fetal position in front of my laptop. I lifted my head as I reached for the phone and called.  
‘’Jo?’’ I was glad I’d also given him my number so I didn’t have to say who I was first.  
‘’Dean… Are you busy?’’ I asked, since it was possible he was.  
‘’No. What is it, Jo?’’ he spoke quickly, I guessed he could hear the fear in my voice.  
‘’Really? Nothing to do? Because I-’’  
‘’Yeah, nothing.’’ He said.  
‘’-I need to talk to an adult.’’  
‘’Ell.. Your mom isn’t there?’’ He asked.  
‘’She can’t know, Dean, I’m serious. Don’t tell her.’’ That was the way I warned him about what kind of problem I had.  
‘’Tell her what?’’ He asked ‘’What happened, Jo? Tell me.’’  
Up until that moment I’d been refusing to seem weak to Dean. I knew he already thought I was a bit young, but this made me swallow my pride. Making bad decisions made me deserving of losing some pride, after all.  
‘’Listen, a guy has pictures of me. He just threatened to post them on the internet.’’  
‘’Jo.. Pictures of you, you mean-’’  
‘’Yes, those kind of pictures.’’ A part of me wondered whether he’d imagined what exactly they looked like, even if I was scared I couldn’t hide my feelings for him.  
I heard him sigh and suddenly stop. He was probably covering his mouth with his hand. Disappointed, maybe. I didn’t think he knew me enough to expect anything from me, though.  
‘’Wh.. Why? What does he want you to do?’’  
The guy’s exact words came back into my mind. He told me to contact a girl, make her message him. She was a friend of his, according to him. That’s what I told Dean.  
‘’Did you already do that?’’  
‘’No, I-’’  
‘’Good.’’  
‘’What? I wasn’t able to, I can’t message her from any account on social media that even seems to be her. Why is that good?’’  
‘’Well, Jo, firstly because he’s going to keep wanting other things from you. And secondly, he probably wants to do the same to her. Don’t you think there’s a reason why she doesn’t want to be messaged?’’  
Realizing it was all true, I could only smile at his words. It almost sounded like he had experience with that sort of thing.  
‘’Huh’’  
‘’Hey, I get it, you’re scared’’ I thought of denying it, but it was pointless if he knew. I would only look more like a child to him ‘’But don’t let him do it to more girls.’’  
‘’Then what am I supposed to do? I think he’s honestly willing to do it. Dean, my life is over if he does that.’’  
Hearing his steps, I imagined he was thinking while walking towards his motel room’s bed to sit.  
‘’Jo. Block him now, don’t tell him anything. Just block him.’’  
‘’No’’ I almost shouted ‘’He’s going to post them. I can’t risk it.’’  
I kept hearing his breathing. His was more stable than mine.  
‘’A friend of his goes to my school, Dean’’ I kept talking ‘’If I block him he can still talk to me.’’  
Still, he made silence for a few seconds.  
‘’Jo, you’re still seventeen, right?’’  
‘’Yeah, but-’’  
‘’I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to post that.’’  
‘’But if he shows it to others at school?’’ I asked ‘’And besides, maybe they can blame me for the whole thing if.. I don’t know, every choice seems like a bad one.’’  
‘’Okay, so suppose they find out. Maybe some will say you’re a slut. But what would be the truth, Jo?’’  
I frowned, trying to understand what he expected me to say.  
‘’That I’m… not?’’  
‘’The truth is that who cares!’’ he said, loud like he was arguing, then I heard him breathe again and keep going in a more quiet but not softer voice ‘’You’ve done nothing wrong.’’  
Standing there for some moments after he’d said it, I ended up replying:  
‘’I guess I haven’t’’ I said ‘’Thank you, Dean.’’  
Even though with that it was me who ended the conversation, I would have liked to keep talking, but I feared he was actually busy and just didn’t want to tell me about it.  
‘’Jo.’’  
‘’Yes?’’ I answered almost immediately.  
‘’Don’t send nudes to guys on the internet.’’  
‘’Yes, I won’t’’ I told him, mostly so that he didn’t worry.

At least I was sure to do the other thing Dean told me to. I opened skype and looked for the guy’s account, only stared at it for some seconds before I blocked him. The ceiling was the next place I stared at. I did imagine that it could have made him angry, but I thought that if I couldn’t and shouldn’t contact the girl for him, he would have posted them anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

That day at school was different. People stared at me so much I was starting to think I had something on my face. When I was leaving, the steps I heard behind me were too similar to mine.  
‘’Hey’’ he said. It was all. That was Arthur, the guy’s friend. He’d say hey to me before, but rarely. I was struggling to convince myself that it didn’t mean anything, but I wanted to expect the worst from the start. Maybe the stares happened most of the time but I just didn’t pay attention before the whole thing happened. In any case, if my pictures had been posted, I wasn’t able to do anything about it, so I decided to trick myself into being convinced it was all perfect and alright. So much that as soon as I arrived home, I went directly to the bathroom, together with my backpack, only grabbed my towel before entering the room. My backpack housed my phone, which I used to get some music while I took a bath. As soon as I got in and ran out of things to think about besides my issue, my phone’s ring interrupted the music.  
It was Dean. I dried my fingers some more before answering.  
‘’Hi, Dean.’’ I said, lowering my voice to not sound too excited.  
‘’Hey’’ He replied ‘’Listen, I think I shouldn’t have ended the conversation where it ended.’’  
‘’What do you mean?’’ I guessed that was the reply he expected from me. And I actually did wonder.  
‘’I only told you to not do something.’’ He paused ‘’But you know, I was a teen myself and know that’s not really how you make them not do it.’’  
He was talking about me not sending nudes. It’s almost like he wanted it to be awkward.  
‘’You wanna talk about… that?’’  
‘’You prefer to talk about how your day was?’’ he asked, I was unsure of whether he was being sarcastic ‘’Actually, how was it? He hasn’t done anything, has he?’’  
Even though I didn’t want to make him worry, a part of me wanted to have him calm me down if I told him I suspected he had. But I didn’t. I thought at the time that having a trustworthy adult that wouldn’t judge me was more important than have him comfort me. I was also not ready to be lectured about the dangers of the internet and how irresponsible and dumb my actions were. Not that I expected him to be like that. He wasn’t one to lecture from what I knew, but I think most adults feel experienced compared to teenagers enough to want to teach them a few things about life.  
‘’No, not that I know of.’’  
‘’But if he had, you’d know, right?’’  
‘’I guess.’’ I told him ‘’But maybe people are just acting like they don’t know about it. Who knows, maybe overtime my friends will get further from me.’’  
I stopped as soon as I realized I was whining to Dean. However, I didn’t want him to talk to me about not sending nudes to guys, he was the last person I wanted that from.  
I heard him breathing a few times before he spoke again, thinking I must have annoyed him.  
‘’Jo.’’ he called ‘’I know you don’t send those pictures just for kicks.’’  
Not expecting that introduction to the subject, I couldn’t say much more than ‘’Oh’’  
‘’Which is bad. I mean, it would be bad if you did, but it’s easier to stop that way.’’  
He made another pause while I thought of something to say.  
‘’Well, maybe that’s true.’’ I didn’t add much to the conversation.  
‘’You do it because you feel lonely.’’ He stated. His bluntness made me want to contradict it, but I couldn’t think of anything truthful to do that with. I took a deep breath.  
‘’Don’t you?’’ He had to ask.  
‘’Sometimes I do.’’ After I said that, it took him some seconds to talk again.  
‘’You do it because you want the attention of random guys.’’ He said. And I was hoping to have a calming bath.  
Dean then used his rougher voice to tell me ‘’You don’t need attention from them. In fact, you better not have it. Those guys don’t want anything good for you, they just want some pictures to jack off to, that’s it.’’  
I felt myself frown at his words. The fact that it was true was what bothered me the most.  
‘’Yeah, you’re right.’’  
‘’But don’t just say ‘you’re right’ and keep going with it. You need to find someone you can trust. Especially because pictures are sent and you don’t know when’s the next time some douche will tell you he’ll post them.’’  
I took my left hand out of the water to rest my face on it with my elbow on the edge of the tub.  
‘’Okay, Dean, I swear, I learned my lesson, that’s it, no more nudes.’’  
He made silence again.  
‘’Are you taking a bath?’’ He asked. He must have heard the water moving when I took my hand out.  
‘’Yeah.’’  
‘’Huh’’ he said ‘’Well, I won’t take much longer.’’ I got disappointed hearing him say that.  
‘’I just wanted to say’’ He continued ‘’That there’s much better ways to get intimacy. Or sex.’’  
Hearing Dean pronounce that last word made it harder to take the phone firmly.  
‘’Dean’’ I said without thinking.  
‘’Yeah?’’  
‘’Mmm.. Nothing.’’ I replied. His voice kept making me feel sleepy, though.  
‘’I guess that’s what I wanted to say, that sex is better when it’s something you don’t do because you feel lonely. It can’t fill any void, only make you feel good when you want to feel good. You know, it’s the whole connecting with the other that makes it so pleasant, the touching everywhere, having control over your body and partly the other person’s, and then losing it all wh-’’  
He interrupted himself.  
‘’Well, uhh… I guess talk to you later, Jo.’’  
‘’Yeah, alright.’’  
He hung up just after that. I couldn’t help reacting to what he said. His voice saying ‘sex’ made me imagine him proposing it, and us sharing our bodies with each other as he described. I moved my hands underwater accordingly, getting to the right places. I was sure Dean was one to enjoy foreplay, at least I imagined him that way.


	3. Chapter 3

The morning after, I regretted having turned on my laptop before going to school. There was a new message from me on Skype. Two, actually. Although I knew the username, I’d thought it belonged to someone that just added me to say hi, because that’s the only thing that had happened, some months back. That was until I read the messages.

_Hi, Jo. So I really thought it would be great to let you think for a few days that it was all okay, but still keep you anticipating. I thought of not showing it to anyone, actually, but when you blocked me it just made it easier to decide. So enjoy your pics being everywhere, they’re pretty flattering don’t you think?_

The second message was a picture. It was a screenshot of him having sent one of my nudes to someone else, Arthur. At that moment it was, for some reason, easier to calm down than when he’d threatened to do that. At least I could then think that the worst possible thing had happened already. Now, what to do?  
The first thing I thought of was calling the police, of course, but I didn’t trust them to really defend me with that. They’d probably want to do something with me too for sending those pictures in the first place, and I didn’t feel ready to have any sort of legal issues.  
While I got ready I kept thinking of what to do. Something that kept getting in my thoughts was calling Dean, of course, but I didn’t think he was that interested. He seemed to have a pretty busy life with his brother. In any case he probably wouldn’t have been able to know what to do. If he called me, though, I wouldn’t have been able to keep myself from telling him. It was something I needed an adult for.  
Speaking of that, my mom didn’t know, but maybe the pictures or the knowledge about them would get to her eventually. I guessed my only option was to be a big girl like I wanted to appear all my life, and expect the worst. Still, I thought maybe that guy wouldn’t be enough of an asshole to make sure to share the picture with more people.

I was proven wrong as soon as I arrived to school. Although I didn’t find Arthur, everyone’s eyes were on me. This time I was sure there was something wrong and not just me being paranoid, because some actually pointed at me from afar and said things to their company. It was one of those moments when the most convenient thing was to pretend things weren’t happening. I got to my classroom pretending this, and I hadn’t paid attention to class as much as I did that day. When leaving that first class, I told myself I could live the rest of high school pretending this ignorance of what happened around me. It was difficult, but possible, and if it could help my mom never know about the situation, I was willing. Was, until the next class started and we went into a different classroom.

‘’Before we start the class’’ our teacher said just after the usual ‘good morning’ ‘’I want to mention something that I was told about today, and even if you have nothing to do with it, you need to hear about what we can learn from it’’

I knew it was about me, but I still kept my gaze glued on the window. Looking at the teacher would call attention to it, looking at my desk would make me seem ashamed. I kept drinking my saliva like it was just water, unable to stop it, though I think I was handling it well and didn’t appear scared.

‘’Sexting is a very dangerous thing to do. It gives very little, yet it takes away a lot.’’

 _I know, Dean told me this already_ , I thought. And I tried to keep thinking, because I could feel the stares as she kept talking.

‘’...My point is, never trust anyone enough to share those kinds of pictures with them. If they want to force you to do it, it’s not worth it.’’

And her point made sense. It was really too late for me, though.  
Our teacher finished with something about how we also shouldn’t judge someone if their nudes get exposed, but clearly it was the part people were the least interested in. The whole thing didn’t make anything better, at least not for me. I couldn’t ignore it anymore, and that short speech confirmed that everyone did know. I couldn’t keep pretending.

On the way to my next class, outside the building, I saw Arthur. For some reason my eyes immediately went to a shovel behind me, meant for whomever maintained the garden outside the basketball court. I knew I stared at it, and then looked at him. When he smiled at me, interestingly it didn’t feel so fake. I realized he probably didn’t know he was the only one to spread the pictures, and also didn’t know that no one else at school knew the guy but him. That’s what kept me from doing anything violent although I felt like it. With the sudden privacy between the building and the empty court, and in the heat of the moment, I thought I would have been able to. But there was some sort of innocence I felt in him, maybe he thought ‘hey, this girl is hot’ and showed it to his friend that also went to school and the same thing happened to the other guy and so on. So I let him walk past me.

After getting back from school, I could barely face my mother. I knew she wasn’t aware because of her very plain ‘how was school’, but my reply was unintentionally different. I guess it was the tone that gave it away, but she took a glance at me and frowned. She knew something was wrong. I got to my room fast, though, and apparently she didn’t suspect too much of it.

The issue for the rest of the day was Dean. Maybe my concern was not that I’d bother him, it was really that I didn’t want to seem like a helpless child to him. Because, yes, of course I was attracted to him. I was really a child at the end of it all, and Dean was everything a man is. Besides, the first day was always the harshest, maybe as time went on I would get used to all the stares and knowing that everyone was aware.

Or that was what I told myself. Truth is, I knew life was too short to simply suffer through things like those. I knew I needed help, too. I just refused to get it. Although I picked up the phone, I left it where it was and went to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Since the second day I was sure I would never get used to the stares until I left that school. Of course I would have to tell Ellen, though, so I went on. At some point, I guessed, it wouldn’t matter anymore. My real issue was Dean after that. He was hot and probably an amazing boyfriend, and now it was probably ruined by me going so fast to tell him a secret. For him I probably seemed like too troubled —and too young— to be taken seriously as a possible girlfriend.  
During school I couldn’t get this ‘nobody loves me’ feeling off me. Even though I managed not to cry, I was close to it when coming back home and realizing nothing had changed. Just when I was trying to keep myself from calling Dean, my phone rang. In a way I knew it was him since I heard the sound, but I wasn’t expecting to hear what he told me.

‘’Hey, Jo.’’ He said. His tone was much more serious than I was used to.  
‘’Hi, Dean’’ I said.  
‘’How’s it been?’’ I knew it was a forced question, so I answered in a way that wouldn’t change the subject he called to talk about.  
‘’Well, good, I think, you?’’  
‘’Fine, it’s been fine. Listen, I wasn’t sure whether to tell you this, but I figured if I were you I’d want to know, so…’’  
He paused to sigh while I ran my fingers through my hair to figure out what he was about to say. It landed on me just before he went on.  
‘’This morning I saw a message from some guy. I guess he goes to your school or knows someone that does.’’ He made a short pause again ‘’Because he sent me your nudes.’’  
I kept myself silent, mostly because I didn’t know what to say. Dean had seen me naked, not even wanting to. I couldn’t really say that I was sorry without it being awkward, I couldn’t just brush it off, of course I cared. It was a big deal.  
He continued ‘’I’m sorry this… happened to you, Jo. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that they’re out there.’’  
‘’I know.’’ I replied without thinking.  
‘’Huh.’’ he said ‘’You did?’’  
Realizing what I’ve said, I tried to go on as if I’d knowingly confessed that. ‘’Yeah, the guy sent me the pictures along with a message telling me he’d sent them, so…’’  
‘’When?’’  
‘’A couple of days ago.’’  
‘’Why didn’t you tell me?’’ He asked and that was when my tears finally showed up.  
Since I was already having a hard time talking I decided to not even attempt to explain, and instead I could only say ‘’Dean…’’  
‘’You don’t trust me’’ he stated. I covered my mouth, maybe to keep myself from saying something impulsive. What I tried to do at that moment was to keep silent so my mom wouldn’t hear it. I couldn’t talk, so at some point Dean just said ‘’Wait’’ and hung up.  
Calming down was, of course, all I could do. As soon as I left the phone on my bed I felt like going on Facebook to publicly declare myself the subject in the nudes, but I realized early enough that there was no reason to do it. I spread myself on the bed and later planned the clothes I’d wear on Monday to keep my mind from thinking of my issues too much.  
I wasn’t able to hear the front door opening before my mom knocked on mine.  
‘’Coming!’’ I answered and made sure my eyes weren’t red or puffy anymore before going to the first floor.  
There, Dean stood and looked at me. Later I noticed Sam beside him.  
‘’You remember Sam and Dean?’’ she asked me. I couldn’t help smiling. It hadn’t been that long since the last time we’d seen each other, but it had been for a short while and it almost never happened.  
‘’Uh, yes, Dean, Sam.’’ I said, trying to keep my cool ‘’...What’s up?’’  
Dean smiled too, but he frowned as if it was worry and not happiness that he felt ‘’Well, as I was telling Ellen, we were driving near the place and figured we should visit.’’

 

After talking about what had happened in their lives lately, Dean asked me if I wanted to go and take a walk with them before they left. Ellen didn’t see a problem with it, probably since it was Friday and I didn’t have to do homework. Sam stayed with us only for a few minutes before Dean started talking about the serious parts.  
‘’Jo, this experience will probably change you.’’ He said. It was his usual, confident voice ‘’I still wish it didn’t have to happen.’’  
I avoided his gaze as I replied.  
‘’It’s not a big deal anymore.’’ I told him ‘’I think the worst already happened when I went to school a few days ago.’’  
‘’Not a big deal?’’ he started ‘’I wouldn’t want that to happen to anyone I know. I want to make sure you’ve learned something.’’  
‘’Did you really come here just to lecture me again?’’ I asked, trying to keep calm.  
‘’I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but…’’ He stopped and for a moment I could see for the first time that he didn’t know what to say ‘’Listen, Jo, I’m not trying to say that it’s your fault. In fact, I was irresponsible that time I called you to talk about sex. But I didn’t understand that your problem was growing up too fast.’’  
I wanted it to be all a joke, and for him to shut up and leave if that was all he’d keep talking about.  
‘’So what? That’s all?’’ I asked.  
‘’I’m sorry.’’ He said, much more quietly than previously ‘’I know you’ve got a big crush on me.’’  
I could only stare after he said that, so he went on.  
‘’And damn, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t into you. Especially after seeing…’’ he stopped to look at my expression ‘’And by the way, don’t be embarrassed about those. I’d be proud if I had that body.’’  
I felt myself raise my brows and he stopped talking. Although I knew I shouldn’t, I imagined him looking at those pictures of me. The thought that had seemed terrifying before suddenly was pleasant.  
‘’I do have a crush on you, of course.’’ I said, looking at him ‘’But I guess I get it, you think I’m too young. You think you’d corrupt me forever and my mother would hate you.’’  
He half-smiled and barely nodded. Contrasting, I shook my head lightly and got closer to look at him in the eyes. Although I thought of it, he was the one to get his arms around me. I even felt him kissing my head. I pressed myself against him even more. When we broke the embrace, I spoke.  
‘’We’re already close to each other now, you can’t deny it.’’ I said. ‘’It only makes sense to date.’’  
He put his hands in his pockets.  
‘’You’ve said you want it. You’ve showed me that you want to protect me.’’ I continued ‘’And I want it too.’’  
His face got closer to mine and he touched it gently.  
‘’I want to be the adult you can trust. You can always have a guy that is right for you.’’ He said ‘’Don’t think of me as the only guy one could ever date.’’  
Noticing that he hadn’t denied anything of what I had said, I dared to ask him something.  
‘’How about being the first one, then?’’  
He got further from me, then looked at whatever was behind me while he thought.  
‘’I’ve only wanted to make you feel better, Jo. And yeah, you’re right, I do like the idea.’’  
At first I thought I was getting my face closer to his, but it was him who got closer and closed his eyes just before I did, then I felt his lips softly press mine.


End file.
